Switch with straight common terminal having plural pivots



g- 5, 1939 w. R. BAUER ETAL 3,459,912

SWITCH WITH STRAIGHT COMMON TERMINAL HAVING PLURAL PIVOTS riginal Filed Dec. 6. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l I40 I 2o 76 I38 I 92 J lllllnh H v I hil III I jjf so ir 54 11 I 34 WW Wm 98 INVENTORS WERNER ROBERT BAUER BY GEORGE MACK HIPPLE WWO THEIR ATTORNEYS Aug. 5, 1969 w. R. BAUER ETAL SWITCH WITH STRAIGHT COMMON TERMINAL HAVING PLURAL PIVOTS riginal Filed Dec.

2 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTORS WERNER ROBERT BAUER BY GEORGE MACK HIPPLE FIG-6 mam ATTORNEYS 3,459,912 SWITCH WITH STRAIGHT COMMON TERMINAL HAVING PLURAL PIVOTS Werner Robert Bauer and George Mack Hippie, Columbus, Ohio, assignors to Robertshaw Controls Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Continuation of application Ser. No. 688,622, Dec. 6, 1967. This application Aug. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 769,463

Int. Cl. H0111 21/40, 21/44 US. Cl. 20067 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application discloses a switch structure with a straight common terminal bar with an actuating plunger on one side of such bar, and with stationary and movable contact structures on the other side of said bar. A relatively short switch actuating lever is on one side of said bar at a relatively sharp angle to said vertical bar in one position and at a substantially horizontal right angle in another position. Vertical movement of a'plunger on one side of said bar causes an efiective wipe action between said movable and stationary contact structures on the other side of said bar.

This application is a streamlined continuation application under Commissioners order 824 O.G. 1, of Werner Robert Bauer et al., application Ser. No. 688,622, filed Dec. 6, 1967, which is a streamlined continuation appli cation under Commissioners order 824 O.G. 1, of Werner Robert et aL, application Ser. No. 487,525, filed Sept. 15, 1965.

This invention relates to a switch with a straight common terminal.

According to one feature of this invention, a straight common terminal bar is provided in the switch structure which has a plurality of pivot points along the straight bar in such a manner that accurate tolerances for the pivot constructions on such bar are maintained.

Another feature of this invention includes an actuating lever pivoted on such straight bar at a relatively sharp angle to provide an efiective wipe action between the movable and stationary contacts. Such short actuating lever is provided with a groove and ridge pivot for accuracy of operation, and with a locking tongue and tongue receiving opening to insure that no displacement of the pivot occurs.

Another feature of this invention includes a combined straight common terminal and plural pivot member or bar provided for a small encased snap switch. This straight common terminal and plural pivot member or bar has no bent vertical or horizontal offsets. It can be stamped from flat stock without material bends between critical notches, hinge points and similar pivots. This common terminal may extend into the small switch casing without any bends in the encased part of the terminal to provide, for example, an accurately positioned pivot for an actuating pivot lever on one side of the straight terminal member, and an accurately positioned pivot for a bowed snap leaf spring on the other side of such terminal member.

Other features and advantages are apparent from this description, the appended claimed subject matter, and/or the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a small switch made according to this invention drawn substantially to actual scale to indicate the small size of the switch.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan view of the switch of FIGURE 1 with the cover removed.

atent O 'ice FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 with the switch parts in actuated position.

FIGURE 5 is a cross-section along line 5--5 of FIG- URE 3.

FIGURE 6 is a cross-section along the line 66 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a portion of the pivot bar and of the tongue pivot construction of the actuating lever.

FIGURE 8 is a cross-section along the groove and ridge portion of the pivot between the straight bar and the pivot end of the actuating lever.

FIGURE 9 is a cross-section similar to FIGURE 8 but taken along the tongue and tongue receiving opening portion of the pivot construction.

Certain words indicating direction, relative position, etc., may be used in this specification and in the claimed subject matter. Such words are used for the sake of clearness and brevity. However, it is to be understood that these words are used in connection with the illustrations in the drawings, and that in actual use the parts described by such words may have entirely diiierent direction, relative position, etc. Examples of such words are upper, lower, vertical, horizontal, etc.

This invention may include an electrically insulative switch casing, casing member or support means 20 with a straight vertical conductor bar 22. The bar 22 may have a portion 24, partly outside the casing, and may have an inner end 26 extending into the casing. The casing may be made of Bakelite and the like.

A pair of stationary contactors 28 and 38 extend into the casing member 20' and have spaced and opposed stationary contacts 32 and 34. Either or both of the contactors 28 and 30 and either or both of the contacts 32 and 34 may be electrical conductors which may be intermittently connected to the conductor bar 22 by the switch construction within the casing 20.

A relatively short pivot lever or switch actuating lever 36 may have a first lever end 38 pivoted on a first pivot construction 40 on the terminal bar 22. The lever 36 may also have a second leve'r end 42 pivoted on the inner end 44 of an actuating plunger 46.

The lever 36 may be at a relatively sharp angle to the bar 22 in one position, as shown in FIGURE 3, and may be at a substantially horizontal right angle to said bar 22 in another position, as shown in FIGURE 4.

A snap blade 48 may have a first blade end 50 having movable contact means in the form of movable contacts 52 and 54 alternately engaging the stationary contacts 32 and 34 respectively. The snap blade 48 may also have a second blade end 56 having a pulling construction engaging the second lever end 42, in a slot 43.

A compression snap spring 58 may have a first spring end 60 pivoted on a second pivot construction 62 on the terminal bar 22. The snap spring may also have a second spring end 64 pushing the first blade end 50 and causing the second blade end 56 to pull the second lever end 42 to cause the first lever end tightly to engage the first pivot construction 40.

The short lever 36 with its relatively sharp angle, as in FIGURE 3, and its relatively horizontal right angle as in FIGURE 4, provides an effective wipe action between the contacts 32, 34, 52 and 54, to maintain said contacts in an effective conductive condition.

The first pivot construction 40, FIGURE 8, may include a first pivot groove means or grooves 66 on the terminal bar 22 transverse to the length of such bar 22. The first lever end 38 may have a pivot ridge means 68 pivoted on the pivot groove means 66.

The pivot groove means 66 may have a tongue receiving opening 70 extending through the bar 22. The

first lever end 38 may have a tongue 72 extending into the tongue receiving opening 70.

The switch casing 20 may have a casing switch cavity 74 with the terminal bar 22 partly in the cavity 74 and extending out of the casing at 24.

The actuating plunger 46 may have an outer plunger end 76 outside of the casing 20, and may have the inner plunger end 44 inside the casing. The outer end 76 may be rounded, as shown, to provide a pushable construction to be actuated by hand, or by any mechanical means, such as by a rocking lever, not shown, which may be pivoted in the pivot opening 78 and which may extend over the outer end 76 of the plunger.

The snap spring 58 may be in the form of a bowed spring blade with its first spring end in the form of a straight edge 77 pivoted in the pivot slot or groove 80 which is transverse to the length of the bar 22. The groove 80 is on the opposite side of the bar 22 from the slot or groove means 66.

The snap blade 48 may be in the form of a movable contact channel shaped contact carriage with a movable contact supporting floor 82 at one end of the blade 48 and with a lever end engaging floor 84 at the other end.

The snap blade 48 may be in the form of an open channel with an open bottom 86, FIGURE 6, between the floors 82 and 84. The floors 82 and 84 may be joined by straight channel side members 88 and 90.

The casing 20 may have a main portion which has a boundary wall surrounding the cavity 74, with the boundary Wall being rectangular in shape with opposite long Walls 92 and 94 and opposite short walls 96 and 98.

The straight bar 22 may have a portion 100 passing through and secured in a slot 102 in one wall 94. The bar 22 may have one of its ends 104 extending into a slot 106 in the other long wall 92.

The bar 22 also passes through the open bottom 86 of the snap blade 48, between the channel side members 88 and 90.

The casing may have a bottom casing wall 108 which may be integral with the opposite long walls 92 and 94 and opposite short walls 96 and 98. A rectangular cover member 110 covers the boundary walls 92, 94, 96 and 98 and has an edge construction 112 for engagement with such boundary walls, and has a substantially flat outer surface 114 and a recessed inner surface 116. Such cover may be secured in place by suitable screws passing through a plurality of holes 118 or any other similar holes. Such screws may pass through the cover edge 112 and into or through the walls 92, 94, 96 and 98, or the corners thereof.

The bar 22 may have outward ears 120 in which the pivot grooves 66 may be formed to receive the lever end ridge means 68.

The slots 102 and 106 may extend rightward in FIG- URE only to their bottom surfaces 122 and 124 to be engaged by the right edges of the bar 22 to prevent rightward movement of the bar 22 in FIGURE 5.

The left edges of the bar 22 may extend leftward on FIGURE 5 to be engaged at 126 and 128 by the inner surface of the cover member 110 to prevent leftward movement of the bar 22 after the cover 110 is attached to the main body of the casing.

The lever end 42 is movable in an arc about the groove means 66 as a center.

A plunger receiving bearing slot 130 may be provided in long wall 92 which extends toward the arc, and the actuating plunger 46 is located in and passes through such slot. The plunger inner end 44 is enlarged at head 132 to engage the inner surface 134 of the wall 92 to limit the outward movement of the plunger 46. The enlarged inner plunger end head 132 has a lever end receiving interlocking means or opening 136.

The plunger 46 may be made of frictionless plastic, such as nylon, and slides in a relatively short plunger 4 pivoting means or hearing at short plunger pivoting surfaces 138 and 140, so that the plunger may rock on such bearing surfaces 138 and 140. The lower end of the plunger bearing slot is a relatively wide plunger rocking portion so that the lower end 44 of the plunger may rock freely in the wide lower end of the slot 130.

The lever 36 may be a relatively short pivoted lever which is pivoted at a relatively sharp angle to the vertical bar 22 in such a manner that the movable contacts 52 and 54 are moved with an effective wipe action on the stationary contacts 32 and 34 just before and after making and breaking the contact action. This maintains a clean contact surface engagement.

It is thus to be seen that this invention provides a combined straight common terminal and plural pivot member or bar provided for a small encased snap switch. This straight common terminal and plural pivot member or bar has no bent vertical or horizontal offsets. It can be stamped from flat stock without material bends between critical notches, hinge points and similar pivots. This common terminal may extend into the small switch casing without any bends in the encased part of the terminal to provide, for example, an accurately positioned pivot for an actuating pivot lever on one side of the straight terminal member, and an accurately positioned pivot for a bowed snap leaf spring on the other side of such terminal member. The lack of such bent vertical or horizontal offsets insures a more accurate spacing between the critical vertically spaced notches, hinge points, and similar points, which can easily be displaced when bending the terminal, as in prior constructions.

While the form of the invention now preferred has been disclosed as required by statute, other forms may be used, all coming within the scope of the claimed subject matter which follows.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination:

a switch construction support means including a substantially rectangular wall construction having opposite upper and lower long side walls and opposite first and second short side walls;

a switch construction supported on said support means inside said long side walls and short side walls; switch actuating lever for said switch construction with a pivot lever end having a pivot ridge means and with a locking tongue means extending from said ridge means; straight conductor terminal bar carried by both of said long side walls closed to said first short side wall than to said second short side wall and having pivot groove means receiving said ridge means, said pivot groove means having a tongue receiving opening, with said tongue means extending through said opening, and in which said conductor terminal bar is vertical and said lever has a short straight portion between said bar and said first short side wall and said straight portion is at an upward sharp angle to said bar in its upper position and extends upwardly from said pivot groove means and said short straight portion is nearly at a substantially horizontal right angle to said bar in its lower position and extends substantially horizontally from said pivot groove means and said lever has an upwardly bent actuatable lever end movable in an are about said groove means as a center, and in which said support means has a plunger slot in said upper long side wall adjacent said first short side Wall, said slot extending to ward said plunger slot and having an outer outside said casing and an inner end engaging and actuating said upwardly bent actuatable lever end, and in which said plunger is slidably and rockably mounted in said plunger slot with said inner plunger end being laterally rockable and having an interlocking pivot with said actuatable lever end, and in which said switch construction has a spring biased movable blade engaging said upwardly bent actuatable lever end and yieldingly biasing said pivot lever end toward said groove means, and wherein said locking tongue means and said tongue receiving opening lock said pivot lever end from jumping out of said pivot groove means when said casing is jolted, said switch construction having stationary and movable contacts on the opposite side of said bar from said plunger and which contacts are moved relatively to each other with an effective wipe action by said short lever.

2. A combination according to claim 1 in which said blade engages a slot in said actuatable lever end and pulls said pivot lever end toward said pivot groove means, and in which said blade has one end with a lever end slot engaging means and has its other end engaged by a snap spring which biases said blade toward said lever and biases said lever toward said groove means.

3. In combination:

a casing having a switch receiving cavity and a substantially rectangular cavity boundary wall adjacent said cavity, said boundary wall including opposite upper and lower long side walls and opposite first and second short side Walls, said upper long side wall having a plunger receiving bearing slot adjacent said first short side wall, said plunger receiving bearing having relatively short plunger pivoting means and a relatively wide plunger rocking portion;

a switch structure carried in said cavity, said switch structure including a pivot supporting straight vertical conductor bar carried by both of said upper and lower long side walls closer to said first short side wall than to said second short side wall, and having two outward ears along its edges, said ears having lever pivot grooves, said bar having a tongue receiving opening between said grooves;

a short switch structure actuating lever between said bar and said first short side wall with a pivoted lever end having a tongue extending into said tongue receiving opening and two pivot ridges on each side of said tongue engaging said lever pivot grooves, said lever having an actuatable lever end movable toward and away from said bearing slot in an arc with said lever pivot groove means as a center, said lever having a short straight portion between said bar and said first short side wall and said short straight portion being at a sharp angle to said bar in its upper position and extending upwardly from said pivot grooves, and said short straight portion being nearly at a substantially horizontal right angle to said bar in its lower position and extending substantially horizontally from said pivot grooves, and said lever having an upwardly bent actuatable lever end;

an actuating plunger passing through said plunger pivoting means of said plunger receiving bearing slot, said plunger having an actuatable end extending out beyond said plunger receiving bearing slot, said plunger having an inner plunger end rocking freely with a lever end receiving and interlocking portion, said upwardly bent actuatable lever end interlockably engaging said lever receiving and interlocking portion, said pivot supporting bar having a snap spring blade receiving pivot slot on its opposite side from and above said lever pivot groove means and in which said switch structure includes:

a movable contact channel shaped movable contact carriage with a movable contact supporting floor at one end and with a lever end engaging floor at the other end and with an open bottom between said floors, said pivot supporting bar passing through said open bottom;

a movable contact channel shaped movable contact carriage with a movable contact supporting floor at one end and with a lever end engaging floor at the other end and with an open bottom between said floors, said pivot supporting bar passing through said open bottom;

an upwardly bowed snap spring blade movable in said open bottom with one blade end pivoted to said blade receiving slot and with the other blade end pivoted against said movable contact supporting floor;

a pair of movable contacts on opposite sides of said contact supporting floor;

and a pair of stationary contacts respectively engaged by said movable contacts, said stationary and movable contacts being moved relatively to each other with an efiective wipe action by said short lever, said contacts being on the opposite side of said bar with said plunger, and in which said pivot supporting bar passes through and is secured in said lower long side wall and has its end extending into a wall slot in said upper long side wall, and in which said plunger receiving bearing slot extends through said upper long side wall, and in which a bottom casing wall is integral with said opposite long side walls and opposite short side walls, and in which a rectangular cover member covers said long and short side walls and has an edge construction for engagement with said boundary wall and has a substantially flat outer surface and a recessed inner surface to receive one of said ears.

4. In combination:

an insulative casing having a switch receiving cavity and a substantially rectangular cavity boundary wall adjacent said cavity, said boundary wall having opposite upper and lower long side walls and opposite first and second short side walls, said upper long side wall having a plunger receiving bearing slot adjacent said first short side wall;

a switch structure carried in said cavity, said switch structure including a substantially straight vertical bar carried by both of said long side walls closer to said first short side wall than to said second short side wall and having a lever pivot slot in said bar adjacent said first short side wall, and lever pivot grooves on each side of said slot;

a switch structure actuating lever between said bar and said first short side wall with a pivoted lever end having a tongue engaged in said lever pivot slot and with pivot ridges on each side of said tongue engaged in said pivot grooves, and with an actuatable lever end movable toward and away from said bearing slot in an arc with said lever pivot slot as an axis, said lever having a short straight portion between said bar and said first short side wall and said straight portion being at a sharp angle to said bar in its upper position and extending upwardly from said pivot grooves, and said straight portion being nearly at a substantially horizontal right angle to said bar in its lower position and extending substantially horizontally from said pivot grooves, and said lever having an upwardly bent actuatable lever end;

an actuating plunger passing through and laterally rockable in said plunger receiving bearing slot, said plunger having an actuatable end extending out beyond said plunger receiving bearing slot, said plunger having a laterally rockable inner plunger end with a lever end receiving opening, said actuatable lever end being received in said lever receiving opening, said plunger receiving bearing slot having a relatively short plunger pivoting bearing for said plunger, said pivot supporting bar having a snap spring blade receiving pivot slot on its opposite side from, and above, said lever pivot slot and said switch structure including a movable contact channel shaped movable contact carriage with a movable contact supporting floor at one end and with a lever end engaging floor at the other end and with an open bottom between said floors, said pivot supporting bar passing through said open bottom, and an upwardly bowed snap spring blade movable in said open bottom with one blade end pivoted to said blade receiving pivot slot and with the other blade end pivoted against said movable contact supporting floor, a pair of movable contacts on opposite sides of said contact supporting floor and a pair of stationary contacts respectively engaged by said movable contacts, said contacts being on the opposite side of said vertical bar from said plunger and said short lever causing an effective wipe action between said contacts.

5. A combination according to claim 4 in which said straight pivot supporting bar has its end held in a short slot in said upper long side wall and in which said bar passes through said lower long side wall, and in which said plunger receiving bearing slot extends through said upper long side wall, and in which a bottom casing wall is integral with said opposite long side Walls and opposite short side walls, and in which a rectangular cover member covers said long and short side walls and has an edge construction for engagement with said boundary wall and 5 has a substantially flat outer surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Primary Examiner DAVID SMITH, JR., Assistant Examiner 

